I. Introduction
1. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water organized the Fifth Space4Water Stakeholder Meeting on 29-30 May 2025 in a hybrid format.
2. The present report describes the objectives of the meeting and includes details of attendance and a summary of the presentations, discussions, and interactive sessions as well as the conclusions and observations.
II. Background and objectives
3. The Space4Water project, and its dedicated Space4Water portal were launched in 2018 under the Memorandum of Understanding with the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water. Since 2021, the scope of the agreement included new areas of cooperation including community building activities. A community of practice consisting of stakeholders, professionals, young professionals, and Indigenous voices has been established over the past years of the project and Space4Water stakeholder meetings organised since 2022, to foster the in-person knowledge exchange and co-design of space-based solutions addressing water-related challenges.
4. The programme of the fifth Space4Water stakeholder meeting included a panel discussion on country case studies, presentations on space-based solutions and water-related challenges, introduction of relevant tools using space-based data and technology, interactive sessions on community objectives and community building, and hands on sessions focused on the development of co-designed (draft) solutions to address previously identified water-related challenges.
5. The meeting was an opportunity for stakeholders to exchange their views and put forward suggestions for a better understanding of the diverse nature of water challenges faced by communities globally.
III. Attendance
6. A total of 85 individuals registered for the meeting, 24 of which were women (20.4 per cent). Among the 42 participants of the meeting, 17 (40.5 per cent) were women. Participants of the meeting came from 24 countries. Online attendance fluctuated, depending on the time zones around the world. 22 participants took part in the meeting sessions via online stream.
7. The following 17 countries were represented among the on site participants: Austria, Brazil, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Spain, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uzbekistan, Venezuela.
8. The following 17 countries were represented among the online participants: Austria, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Italy, Kenya, Nepal, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, United Kingdom, Zambia.
9. In total, 15 participants, with 40 per cent being women were funded. They came from 13 countries: Nigeria, Pakistan, Venezuela, Ghana, India, Kenya, Gambia, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Sri Lanka, and Egypt.
IV. Programme
A. Overview
10. The programme comprised presentation sessions as well as for short demonstrations of relevant tools), community sessions, panel and round-table discussions, and most importantly hands-on sessions in which space-based solutions were co-created.
11. The total duration of the event was about 17 hours over two days. It involved 36 individual speakers (15 women and 21 men) who delivered presentations. The programme covered nine sessions, started from an opening session, a session dedicated to the introduction of participants. A session of country case studies included a presentation of practice in Uzbekistan followed by a panel discussion on challenges and opportunities in the preparatory work to establish a country case study and a Space4Water country chapter, and three sessions with presentations: one on Space-based solutions and draft solutions, one on Water-related challenges, and one on Relevant tools using space-based data and technology to address water challenges. Interactive sessions of the Space4Water community included one Community interaction, focusing on fostering knowledge exchange and exploring opportunities for collaboration within the community, and one on Good Practices with a presentation on the first Space4Water Good Practice – How to choose a data provider. Finally, a hands-on session to co-create space-based solutions for already identified water-related challenges was hosted and presentations on the draft solutions delivered.
12. The delivered presentations can be requested by participants via email on an individual basis from the event organisers.
B. Opening
13. The Fifth Space4Water Stakeholder Meeting was opened formally by the Director of the Office for Outer Space Affairs in which she highlighted the increasing water-related challenges such as floods, droughts, and lack of access to safe drinking water, referencing data from the 2024 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Water Development Report. She acknowledged recent technological advances—including satellite data, artificial intelligence (AI), and remote sensing—but stressed that technology alone is not enough, and called for collaboration, local ownership, and the translation of knowledge into real-world impact. The Director also previewed the meeting agenda, encouraging participants to think boldly and share generously to improve water resilience and human well-being globally.
14. The Director of the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) delivered opening remarks. Established in 2002, the Prize consists of four specialized prizes covering the entire water research landscape that are awarded every two years. The nominations for the 12th Award of the PSIPW are open until the 31 December 2025. The Director acknowledged the longstanding relation with the Office dating back to the first International Conference on the Use of Space Technology for Water Management in 2008 as well as the Office’s work in implementing the Space4Water project. A prototype of the Space4Water portal was developed by PSIPW in 2012, and the launch of official portal developed by UNOOSA took place in 2018. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2016 setting up the cooperation on the Space4Water portal and project.
15. Finally, a presentation on the Space4Water project was delivered by the Office providing an overview of the project and community. The increasing frequency of water-related disasters and cross-border water issues highlights the urgency of utilizing space-based technologies. The recent progress of the Space4Water project includes the organization of webinars, growth in stakeholder engagement, the development of a new country case study, and enhanced science communication through the web portal. Plans have been announced for the 2027 conference in Uzbekistan, which will focus on water scarcity, trans-boundary water management and glacier monitoring.
C. Introduction of participants
16. All participants had a chance to introduce themselves, or the stakeholder they represented and were invited to share the thematic and regional focus of their work, as well as whether their work concerned the local, national, regional or international level.
D. Country case studies
17. A stakeholder from Center for Space Monitoring and Geoinformation Technologies presented the Space4Water country case study for Uzbekistan. The space research and technology agency under the Ministry of digital technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan — “Uzbekspace” agency has established a monitoring system and implementation mechanism through international cooperation to support water resource management. The country receives low annual precipitation and relies heavily (80–90 per cent) on transboundary surface water inflows. Agriculture dominates national water consumption, accounting for over 90 per cent. The country has entered into several transboundary water agreements with neighbouring states. In 2024, a key project was conducted in the Fergana, Samarkand, and Kashkadarya regions, digitizing 49,500 km of water bodies, covering 1.62 million hectares of agricultural land and 52,400 square kilometres through satellite monitoring. Completed work includes the digital mapping of irrigation systems, field verification, digital representation of land areas, estimation of evapotranspiration, analysis of water use efficiency by crop type, district, and land section, digital modelling of observed well systems, and the creation of a groundwater depth map.
18. The panel discussion explored country case studies from Brazil, The Gambia, and Uzbekistan, highlighting both challenges and opportunities in establishing Space4Water country case studies and country or regional chapters. Key themes included fostering institutional collaboration, addressing fragmentation, and improving engagement with local communities and end users. Brazil emphasized the difficulty of coordinating overwhelmed institutions in the aftermath of major 2024 floods that occurred in the country, noting the importance of a unified geospatial database. The Gambia highlighted how the development of the country case study process has been helping unify fragmented agencies and improving real-time response to extreme events. Uzbekistan highlighted the need to complement space-based data with field validation data and stronger cooperation with actors from the water sector(s). Across all cases, panellists agreed that simple data visualization, engagement with farmers and local communities, as well as translation into local languages are essential for effective adoption of space-based solutions. The case studies served as critical first steps toward establishing Space4Water chapters by clarifying stakeholder roles and fostering voluntary collaboration.
19. The following countries/institutions showed interest in developing of a country case study: Bolivia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan. Since six of the eleven institutions who wanted to work on a country case study were representatives from academia. The moderator expressed the need to collaborate with government agencies, because each country case studies should represent the country. This was acknowledged by the volunteers. Follow up communication will provide for clarity and the way ahead.
E. Space-based solutions and draft solutions
20. A solution for Determining optimum sites for rainwater-runoff harvesting was present by representative from University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani in Ghana. He highlighted the challenge of fluoride-contaminated groundwater in the Bongo district of Ghana. To address this, satellite data including elevation, slope, aspect, temperature, precipitation, distance from river, land cover, and soil permeability were processed using Google Earth Engine and analysed through the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), a method for Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. The steps towards the described solution include data loading, preprocessing, normalization, and weighted overlay to generate a composite rainwater harvesting potential (RWHP) map.
21. The presentation on the Identification of potential locations/recharge for shallow groundwater in geographically small countries addressed Bahrain’s desert climate, limited rainfall, and rapid depletion of groundwater. Stakeholders from the National Water and Sanitation Agency of Brazil and University of Stirling explained that although the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) gravity data was tested, it was unsuitable due to very coarse spatial resolution, offering only one pixel over Bahrain. As a solution, three types of satellite data were used: corrected digital elevation model (DEM), soil moisture data was derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Sentinel-1, as well as optical and thermal data (Landsat 8) for the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) to estimate soil moisture. The Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND) was derived from the corrected digital elevation model (DEM) and flow accumulation. These products were classified on a scale of 1–5 and combined using a weighted overlay: HAND (50 per cent), SAR soil moisture (25 per cent), and optical soil moisture (25 per cent).
22. The solution on Wetland extent mapping in North Central Nigeria, Ibaji State was present by representative from National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Italy, and a representative from National Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria. The solution addressed the challenge of declining wetlands in a major confluence and floodplain area due to climate change and human activity. Stakeholders described the use of Google Earth Engine to preprocess satellite images from the years 1995, 2005, 2015, and 2025. Indices such as the normalized difference water index (NDWI), modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI), NDVI, and a soil moisture index were developed to monitor water and vegetation. Land cover classification was carried out using satellite imagery, followed by accuracy assessment. While surface water extent could be monitored more or less reliably, the attribution of vegetation as wetland vegetation has not been successful with the currently available in situ data. More in situ data are going to be acquired.
23. The solution of SAR-based Monitoring of hydrocarbon contamination of water bodies in the Niger Delta was delivered by representative from National Space Research and Development Agency Nigeria. The speaker described repetitive oil spill issues in the region, including a specific spill on June 11 that contaminated inland waters in the Aleto community. Three approaches were tested: the Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) oil spill detection tool, which is based on ocean spill assumptions; a Google Earth Engine script that is still under development; and manual detection using thresholding in SNAP based on SAR backscatter signals, which involved comparing pre- and post-spill images. To date, the SAR backscatter signal could not be attributed to oil spills directly, no matter which method was used. In situ data is needed.
24. A Representative of PSIPW presented the four winners from the most recent cycle, highlighting their creative use of space technology in addressing global water challenges. The Creativity Prize had been awarded to Maria Cristina Rulli (Polytechnica of Milan) and Paolo D’Odorico (University of California, Berkeley) for their novel analyses of the water-energy-food nexus. The Surface Water Prize had gone to Qiuhua Liang’s team (Loughborough University) for developing innovative, open-sources, multi-GPU hydrodynamic models integrating satellite data to support flood prediction. The Groundwater Prize had been awarded to Chunmiao Zheng’s team (Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo) for their powerful modelling tools to understand groundwater processes under diverse conditions. The speaker also announced that the 12th PSIPW Award cycle is now open, encouraging the nomination of candidates and submission of innovative scientific solutions.
F. Water-related challenges
25. Challenge ID 75: The disappearance of Lake Ol’ Bolossat: a threat to biodiversity, livelihoods and water security in Central Kenya, was presented by a representative from Kenya Space Agency. The presenter outlined the urgency due to the lake’s rapid decline which is caused by deforestation, encroachment, excessive water extraction for irrigation, as well as climate change. A solution aims to support both policymakers and local communities through a phased approach: stakeholder engagement and data collection are currently ongoing, while system testing, deployment, knowledge sharing, and long-term monitoring are planned. A framework for monitoring of the lake is developed, specifying the key indicators to be tracked, such as seasonal water extent, land cover transitions, and flood-prone zones. Data sources include Sentinel-1 SAR for water extent, Sentinel-2 for habitat classification, JRC Global Surface Water for historical trends, and CHIRPS for rainfall data. The prototype is implemented in Google Earth Engine (GEE) and Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS). A key output developed so far is a visualization tool illustrating lake extent changes from 1984 to 2021.
26. Challenge ID 86: Sedimentation, reduced water quality, and ecosystem degradation threats in the catchment areas of Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria was presented by a representative from Directorate of Remote Sensing and Surveying, Kenya. Sedimentation, poor water quality, and ecosystem degradation are critical challenges affecting Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria. To address these issues, a solution was developed using multi-source satellite data including Sentinel-2, Landsat, Planet imagery, 15m DEMs, and NDVI. The approach involves a series of steps: baseline assessment, community engagement and awareness, formulation of physical land restoration plans, policy support and enforcement, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation. Implementation relies on spatial, soil, and socio-economic data, supported by tools such as Google Earth Engine, Arc Geographic Information System (ArcGIS), QGIS, Global Mapper, and ERDAS IMAGINE.
27. Challenge ID 72: Water quality degradation of the Bua River, Malawi, was presented by a representative from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). The Bua River catchment is experiencing degradation due to population growth, agricultural expansion, deforestation, and infrastructure development. This has led to serious impacts on both, water availability and quality, affecting local communities that rely on the river and posing a threat to the rich endemic biodiversity of Lake Malawi. In response, the solution focuses on using satellite remote sensing data from the past 10 years, Earth observation data, and GIS mapping to monitor environmental changes and support sustainable catchment management.
28. Challenge ID 67: Integrated water resource management for sustainable agriculture: data-driven approaches to optimize crop patterns and water use in Pakistan, was presented by a representative from Sensing for Climate and Development, Centre for Geographic Information System (GIS), University of the Punjab. Unsustainable water use for agriculture in Pakistan has emerged as a major challenge due to climate change, groundwater depletion, and inefficient farming practices. In response, a solution was designed to analyse crop patterns dating back to 1990, develop a detailed crop calendar, examine temporal trends in crop production, and assess the sustainability of water use practices since 2000.
29. Challenge ID 76: Data-driven irrigation demand forecasting for rotational water management under the Warabandi system, was presented by a representative from the International Water Management Institute, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Fixed rotational irrigation (Warabandi) in Pakistan does not account for the actual water needs of crops, often resulting in over- or under-irrigation and contributing to groundwater depletion. The objective is to develop a space-based, data-driven irrigation demand forecasting system that can advise farmers in advance. The solution in development involves using Earth observation and climate data to train forecasting models based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) and other machine learning approaches. Meteorological data is combined with Earth observation (EO) data, and the model outputs are translated into a user-friendly decision-support tool.
30. Challenge ID 78: Space-based solutions for water scarcity in Egypt’s arid regions, was presented by a representative from Egyptian Space Agency. Egypt faces severe water stress. 97 per cent of its freshwater originates from the Nile Basin, with rainfall contributing less than 1 per cent. This challenge is exacerbated by rapid population growth, inefficient irrigation practices, climate change, and increasing upstream water usage. To address these issues, case studies have been conducted in Lake Manzala, the Hammam Waste Treatment Plant, and Toshka Lake. The solution focuses on leveraging satellite technologies in four key areas: Earth observation to monitor surface water, soil moisture, and groundwater; remote sensing and GIS for spatial analysis; Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to manage distribution networks and field interventions; and early warning systems to forecast floods and support timely responses.
31. Challenge ID 74: Groundwater resource management using artificial intelligence and remote sensing technologies, was presented by a representative from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology Pantnagar. Groundwater in India and surrounding regions is depleting at an alarming rate, and many farmers are unaware of the extent of this exploitation. To address this challenge, the solution combines satellite data—including GRACE, GRACE-Follow-On (GRACE-FO), Landsat, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)—with in-situ observations to assess both, water quantity and quality. Models are developed to generate spatio-temporal maps of the Standardized Groundwater Index (SGI), monitor water quality through remote sensing, and conduct water spread mapping. Additionally, Internet of Things (IoT) -based models are incorporated for real-time monitoring to support early warning systems, promote sustainable water use, and improve agricultural water management.
32. Challenge ID 93: Escalating Water Scarcity and Groundwater Overextraction in Jordan: Climate-Driven Droughts and the Urgent Need for Integrated Resource Management, was presented by a representative from Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre. Severe water scarcity in Jordan is driven by groundwater over-extraction, prolonged climate-induced droughts, increasing pressure on communities and agriculture, and the added strain from refugee influxes. The proposed solution is to develop integrated, space-supported strategies for monitoring, management, prediction, and mitigation of water resources. Expected benefits include improved management of groundwater sources, enhanced drought resilience, data-driven water governance, strengthened national capacity, regional leadership potential, and contributions to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
33. Challenge ID 90: Change detection in land cover mapping using remote sensing data over prioritized hydrographic basins of Venezuela, was presented by a representative from Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities, Venezuela. Detecting land cover mapping changes in prioritized hydrographic basins of Venezuela is a key challenge due to its impacts on hydrology, ecological balance, and socioeconomic functions. The approach relies on MapBiomas land cover data based on Landsat classification, along with satellite imagery from Landsat, Sentinel-2, the Venezuelan Remote Sensing Satellite-1/2 (VRSS-1/2), Ziyuan-1/2/3 (ZY-1/2/3), Gaofen-1 (GF-1), and Satellite pour l'Observation de la Terre-5 (SPOT-5). A major obstacle is the persistent cloud cover over Venezuela, which reduces usable satellite data. The solution requires high-resolution imagery and DEMs, an unsupervised classification model, high-performance computing resources, training programs, and field validation to ensure accuracy and reliability.
34. Challenge ID 81: The ecohydrological trade-off in Nepal’s Middle Hills: mapping spring decline and groundwater loss in community forests through space-based solutions, was presented by a representative from University of Virginia. The Middle Hills of Nepal, located in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region—often referred to as the “Water Tower of Asia”—are facing severe environmental challenges due to deforestation driven by grazing, settlement expansion, and fuelwood collection. These pressures have led to increased flooding, landslides, water scarcity, and the drying up of perennial springs. Efforts to monitor and address these issues are constrained by several limitations, including persistent cloud cover and satellite data gaps, low spatial resolution of available imagery, challenges in phenological mapping, incomplete mapping of springs and groundwater sources, and a lack of in-situ rainfall and temperature data.
35. Challenge ID 88: Honouring Andes's water heritage: bridging traditional knowledge and technology for ancestral water sources management in Quilloac, Ecuador, was presented by a representative from Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. Water scarcity is a growing challenge in the area where environmental degradation and insufficient rainfall have rendered natural springs and ancestral wells unreliable. The proposed solution combines space-based and low-cost technologies. IoT sensors supported by an Arduino platform are used for real-time monitoring of water availability in ancestral wells. Remote sensing tools should help monitor vegetation and estimate soil moisture to identify potential underground water sources. Google Maps is employed to map existing water sources, while KoBoToolbox is used to collect georeferenced data.
36. Challenge ID 73: Spatiotemporal analysis of hydro-meteorological disasters in the Indian Himalayas: integrating space-based techniques for enhanced disaster resilience, was presented by a representative from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology Pantnagar. The Garhwal region of India is highly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological disasters (HMDs), particularly during the monsoon season from June to September, which contributes to floods, flash floods, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), landslides, cloud bursts, and avalanches. To analyse these disasters, data requirements include DEM, slope and elevation, monsoon rainfall, land use/land cover (LULC), glacier cover, proximity to rivers, and soil erodibility. Techniques applied involved K-means clustering, spatial-temporal disaster mapping, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) using seven spatial layers, with consistency ratio checks kept below 10 per cent. The analysis revealed that 77 per cent of HMDs occurred during the monsoon season, with vulnerability increasing progressively from south to north across the region.
37. Challenge ID 91: Trans-boundary early warning systems for reducing water-related disasters in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, was presented by a representative from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. Increasing GLOF risk in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is driven by climate change and accelerating glacial retreat, with over 200 glacial lakes identified as potentially dangerous. A notable case study is the Bhote Koshi GLOF in 2016, which caused severe damage to a 45 MW hydropower plant and affected downstream communities. Key gaps hindering effective response and preparedness include a lack of credible and consistent data, absence of trans-boundary early warning systems, diverse knowledge systems across the region, and weak institutional coordination both within and across national borders.
38. Challenge ID 82: Social vulnerability to flooding in Bangladesh, was presented by a representative from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Bangladesh faces high vulnerability to floods, leading to loss of life, population displacement, infrastructure damage, and disruption of livelihoods. Certain communities are more susceptible due to socioeconomic and demographic factors. To address this, a Social Vulnerability Index is being developed by integrating multiple dimensions—physical, health, economic, social, demographic data, and adaptive capacity. The index draws on satellite data such as Sentinel-1/2, Landsat, and MODIS for historical flood mapping, with Planet Labs imagery for high-resolution validation. Socio-economic indicators include nighttime lights (VIIRS), population density (WorldPop), and land use classification. The success criteria of the index are to support data-driven insights for policymakers, NGOs, and flood response teams, and to improve early warning systems and adaptive strategies.
39. Challenge ID 63: Sea-level rise and potential predictions for sinking of the Delta in Egypt, was presented by a representative from the German University in Cairo. Sea-level rise and land subsidence present a significant challenge, with global sea levels increasing at approximately 3.6 mm per year due to global warming. In the Nile Delta, this is compounded by excessive groundwater pumping and oil/gas extraction, which accelerate land subsidence. Nearly 3,000 km² of the Delta could be submerged by 2100. Additionally, the Aswan High Dam has drastically reduced silt deposition, intensifying coastal erosion. To address these issues, a range of satellite and space technologies are being employed, including InSAR, optical and multi-spectral imaging, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), gravity-measuring satellites, Global Positioning System (GPS), hydrological models, and climate monitoring satellites.
40. Challenge ID 83: Need of geospatial analysis on further strengthening water sensitive urban planning and design to stormwater management in the Greater Colombo metropolitan area, was presented by a representative from University of Texas at Arlington and the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS). Reducing flood risks and environmental degradation in the Colombo Metropolitan Area requires improved urban planning and the integration of green infrastructure. Despite the presence of extensive wetlands, flooding remains a persistent issue due to the lack of updated and detailed wetland maps and insufficient geospatial data for water-sensitive urban planning. The proposed solution involves applying remote sensing techniques to map and monitor small, fragmented wetlands, incorporating these into publicly accessible open-source platforms and urban council maps.
G. Relevant tools using space-based data and technology to address water challenges
41. A tutorial for using the Fast Flood application was delivered by a representative from the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente. Fast Flood is a web-based, space-data-driven simulation tool. The tutorial covered the technical setup of the model, recent research, and hands-on demonstrations. The tool simulates key hydrological processes such as precipitation, infiltration, runoff, river flow, reservoirs, and flooding. At an impressive speed, it achieves an impressive 98–99 per cent accuracy compared to traditional fully dynamic models and supports various flood types including flash floods, fluvial floods, urban floods, and coastal floods.
42. The basics of Google Earth Engine App development were presented by representative from the Kenya Space Agency, demonstrating how non-experts can use this open-source geospatial analysis platform to build simple, impactful geospatial applications. The demonstration walked through the process of having users define an area of interest, adding metadata, loading imagery, calculating indices like NDWI, running scripts, and publishing the app through the platform’s built-in tools.
43. During a tour de table on powerful tools used by community members, a wide range of widely adopted platforms and technologies were highlighted. These included Google Earth Engine, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), HEC-RAS, QGIS, DRASTIC model, HydroWeb, RStudio, KoBoToolbox, Fast Flood App, Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND), GRASS GIS, RHESSys modelling, PGHYDRO, Brazil Data Cube, NASA-ISRO NISAR mission, ESA Biomass mission, Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, TBATS model, Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Google Colab, Inkscape, InSAR Scientific Computing Environment (ISCE), Earth Observation (EO) foundation models, Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI), ArcGIS Pro, Hydrology toolset in ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS), Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), ACOLITE, TerraHydro, and languages (R, SQL, Python).
H. The Space4Water community: Interactive
44. The Space4Water project officer presented the current quo of the Space4Water community, which includes 118 stakeholders, 26 professionals, 34 young professionals, and seven representatives of Indigenous communities. The current focuses is to strengthen capacity and and the community of practice. Quarterly webinars were introduced in 2024 to support technical knowledge sharing while allowing for more time to co-design space-based solutions hands on during stakeholder Meetings. Feedback from participants was collected during the sesssion, focusing on how they describe the community, good practices they could contribute to, modalities for the development of good practices from a number of successful space-based solutions, and the participants interest to develop country case studies.
45. The Good Practice - How to choose a data provider was delivered by a Space4Water Professional, sharing practical guidelines on selecting data providers for water-related remote sensing applications, emphasizing the importance of aligning data choices with spatial and temporal resolution needs, cost, licensing terms, and processing levels. He also highlighted the benefits and drawbacks of using analysis-ready data.
I. From water related challenges to space-based solutions
46. Participants were divided into nine groups, based on the specific challenges they submitted, their respective areas of expertise and preferences to join thematic groups. Each group was tasked to collaboratively develop space-based solutions tailored to address their assigned challenges.
J. Presentations of space-based solutions
47. Each group presented the draft solutions they co-designed during the hands-on sessions.
48. Group J addressed challenge 63: Sea-level rise and potential predictions for the sinking of the Nile Delta in Egypt. Their proposed solution involves the use of high-resolution DEMs, including Copernicus DEM (30m) and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS, 12.5m), along with Maxar satellite imagery. The workflow includes downloading and preprocessing DEMs, removing pits (depressions or sinks in elevation data), calculating flow direction and accumulation, extracting drainage networks, and generating HAND models. A preliminary assessment highlighted the need to transition from DEM to Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) improve accuracy.
49. Group A addressed two interrelated challenges: Challenge 67 on integrated water resource management for sustainable agriculture in Pakistan, and Challenge 76 on irrigation demand forecasting under the Warabandi system. Their focus was on agriculture-related water challenges, leveraging space-based monitoring to digitize field data, classify crops, and monitor crop health using vegetation indices such as NDVI, Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI), Chlorophyll Vegetation Index (CVI), and Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI). The proposed solution integrates satellite data (Sentinel-2, Landsat, GRACE) with tools including Google Earth Engine, Google Colab, Python (with geemap, a Python package for interactive geospatial analysis and visualization with Google Earth Engine (GEE), and Earth Engine API), Google Cloud Storage, and interactive dashboards which are to be built with Dash and Leaflet. The steps to the solution start with acquiring satellite data, followed by crop classification and estimation of crop water requirements. This is complemented by an assessment of available water resources and actual crop water consumption. All these components are then integrated into a model to support crop water use management.
50. Group B addressed two interconnected challenges: Challenge 93 on escalating water scarcity and groundwater overextraction in Jordan, and Challenge 74 on groundwater resource management using AI and remote sensing. Their proposed solution focuses on monitoring, managing, predicting, and mitigating groundwater scarcity using space-based technologies. The solution integrates satellite data (GRACE and GRACE-FO), national datasets, and a suite of software tools including QGIS, ERDAS Imagine, MATLAB, etc. The steps involve preprocessing satellite and ground data to detect groundwater anomalies, mapping and monitoring groundwater resources, applying AI and machine learning models to predict groundwater quality, and developing a mobile application to provide localized groundwater information to farmers and the public. Key outputs include groundwater anomaly maps, predictive machine learning models, and a user-friendly mobile platform.
51. Group D addressed Challenge 90: Change detection in land cover mapping using remote sensing data over prioritized hydrographic basins of Venezuela. Their draft solution involves the use of Mapbiomas data and Planet imagery, supervised classification techniques, and tools such as Google Earth Engine, IDRISI, and QGIS. The steps to the solution include generating high-resolution land cover and land use maps for the years 2020 and 2025, followed by post-classification change assessment to identify and analyse changes. The expected output is a raster highlighting potential land cover changes, which will be visually assessed and potentially classified through supervised classification. The knowledge derived shall inform decision making on relevant water reservoirs.
52. Group E addressed multiple challenges related to water scarcity and access: Challenge 35 concerning the Samburu tribe’s lack of safe drinking water, Challenge 60 on drought impacts on smallholder farmers in northern Madagascar, and an additional case from Bongo District involving contaminated groundwater. Their proposed solution requires the use of open-source datasets and data processing platform GEE. In addition, they call for the involvement of experts to support GEE development and application building. Local resources will be needed to collect data on available materials suitable for making purification filters and storage tanks. The group identified rainwater harvesting—specifically runoff and rooftop rainwater collection—as a practical, community-based solution to mitigate water scarcity in affected regions.
53. Group F addressed multiple environmental challenges, including the Challenge 75 disappearance of Lake Ol’ Bolossat in Kenya, Challenge 86 sedimentation and ecosystem degradation in the Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria catchments, and Challenge 72 water quality decline in Malawi’s Bua River. Their solution integrates multi-source remote sensing data, soil data, and socio-economic data with tools such as ArcGIS, QGIS, Global Mapper, ERDAS Imagine, and GEE. Physical interventions like check dams, gabions, and contour bunds were also proposed to reduce erosion and retain water. The steps to develop the solution include preprocessing data, land use/land cover (LULC) mapping for pollution source identification, temporal trend analysis, watershed boundary integration, correlation of LULC with water quality, ground validation, and change detection to inform policy. Preliminary results from the Malawi case study indicate an increase in soil erosion risk (from 4.8 in 2000 to 6.08 in 2020) and a significant reduction in water area between 1984 and 2024, as revealed through LULC change analysis.
54. Group G addressed Challenge 81, which focuses on mapping spring decline and groundwater loss in Nepal’s Middle Hills, particularly within community forest areas. Their solution integrates satellite-based datasets such as MODIS and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for Leaf Area Index (LAI) and evapotranspiration, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) for precipitation, and plant functional data. The steps to develop a solution include extracting and smoothing LAI data using applying tools like the Leaf Toolbox, the CLAY-3 technique, and the Fmask algorithm for cloud and cloud shadow detection, collecting evapotranspiration data from MODIS, validating TRMM precipitation data with observed records, getting plant functional data from literature, and running the RHESSys model. The expected outcome is the identification of areas experiencing changes in groundwater storage.
55. Group H addressed Challenge 73, which focuses on the spatiotemporal analysis of hydro-meteorological disasters (HMDs) in the Indian Himalayas, aiming to enhance disaster resilience through space-based techniques. Their approach involves the use of tools such as QGIS, Google Earth Engine, Fast Flood, and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool Plus (SWAT+) to analyse historical HMD data. Th group aims to cluster disaster attributes, mapping multi-hazard zones using a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach, and conducting social vulnerability mapping to identify at-risk populations.
56. Group I addressed Challenge 83, which focuses on enhancing water-sensitive urban planning and stormwater management in the Greater Colombo metropolitan area through geospatial analysis. The suggested approach utilizes Sentinel-2 satellite imagery (10m resolution) collected during the dry season (January–March) at two-year intervals from 2015 to 2025. Key indicators to analyse include NDVI and NDW. LULC and soil moisture maps need to be created and overlaid with sub-watershed boundaries to produce integrated spatial outputs that support informed water-sensitive urban planning.
H. Feedback
57. Participants rated the event with an average 4.6 out of 5 points (92 per cent) and a median rating of 5 out of 5 points. This high satisfaction rating was echoed in participants’ reflections on how the meeting enhanced their technical understanding, expanded their networks, and introduced new tools and methodologies relevant to their work.
58. Participants reported significant benefits, including the acquisition of new technical knowledge, exposure to innovative tools such as FastFlood and SAR-based monitoring, and the formation of new partnerships. The meeting was particularly valued for its interactive sessions, including breakout groups and challenge-solving workshops, which facilitated hands-on learning and real-time problem-solving. Stakeholders emphasized the relevance of the discussions to their ongoing work in hydrology, ecosystem preservation, and water resource management, with several noting direct applications in their home countries.
59. Recommendations for future meetings by participants included extending the duration to three days to allow for deeper engagement, improving pre-meeting preparation through early group formation and data sharing, and enhancing the matching of challenges with existing solutions via structured knowledge bases. The feedback also highlighted the importance of continued reporting and follow-up, with suggestions for more accessible formats such as webinars, story maps, and visual dashboards.
60. The Space4Water initiative continues to serve as a vital platform for inclusive dialogue and innovation, bridging the gap between space technology and sustainable water management. The insights gathered from this stakeholder meeting will inform future programming and strengthen the community’s collective capacity to address global water challenges.
H. Closing statement
61. The meeting concluded with a statement by a representative from UNOOSA, expressing appreciation to all participants for their active engagement, valuable contributions, and spirit of collaboration. Participants were informed that a summary report of the meeting will be prepared and disseminated following a short intermission. In addition, a compilation of tools and resources referenced during the sessions will be shared with stakeholders. To maintain momentum and foster continued collaboration, regular monthly group meetings will be scheduled. Participants were encouraged to provide feedback to support ongoing project evaluation and inform the planning of future activities.
